The Story

Hi, my name is Katherine.

In the spring of 2015, I gave birth to an incredible, beautiful, amazing child. Becoming a parent has been an overwhelming wild ride, full of joys and heartbreak. The birth of our son has really caused my little family to blossom into something even better than I ever thought it could be (and I thought it was pretty great already!). There's just one little problem. My child has two mothers.

Which actually isn't a problem at all, except for the fact that he was born RIGHT BEFORE my wife and I were able to be legally married in our state. Because of that, my wife, who is very much this child's mother, has no legal parental rights until we complete a second parent adoption.

Without my wife formally adopting our child, our little family is constantly at risk. We are forced to rely on institutions (such as doctor's offices, schools, etc) to acknowledge and respect her role in our family, but they are not legally required to do so. Should I die, she would have to fight for custody of her own child. Should we separate, there is no legal system in place to ensure he has continued contact with her. And while I believe we will be together forever, I also believe in my wife's rights to a relationship with our child — her child — should things change.

My wife deserves legal recognition and rights as a parent. She has done all of the important work of parenting, including (but not limited to) changing a million diapers, reading two million bedtime stories, and caring for me during a difficult pregnancy and labor, and generally making sure our son is happy, healthy, fed, and safe. She's an excellent parent on ever possible level.

We have been trying to save up to cover his adoption costs since his birth, but life has had other plans, and we've faced financial setbacks. With the political climate changing, and more and more anti-LGBTQIA politicians gaining power, we can no longer afford to wait. We need to complete this process for the safety of our family, and our kid.

The Human Rights Campaign estimates that a second parent adoption could run us anywhere from $2,000-$3,000. However, due to the specifics of our case, I suspect that our costs may be higher. I'm hoping to raise enough money to cover the majority of our expenses, that way we can complete the process as quickly and smoothly as possible.

In the (unlikely) event that we raise more money than needed, we will donate the surplus to help provide legal aid for other LGBTQIA families that are in trouble.

Fundraiser Updates

Posted on January 19, 2017

Posted on January 19, 2017

Wow! In just over a week, due to the amazing generosity of some incredible people, we've raised $845.00! This is massively helpful for a working family who's struggling to finance these costs, and every little bit really DOES make a huge difference. You're all heros, seriously.

We're still not yet a quarter of the way to our goal, and we'd like to get started with the process as soon as we can. Hopefully we can keep this going! Please take a moment to share our fundraiser with your networks. You might just know someone who can help.

Posted on January 13, 2017

Posted on January 13, 2017

Our fundraiser has only been live for about 24 hours, and already we've seen an amazing outpouring of support from friends, family, community, and complete strangers. We've honestly received way more donations than I expected this soon, in addition to all of the messages and words of kindness, and of course shares. I'd like to personally thank each and every person who has donated thus far, you are all amazing, and you are bringing us one step closer to settling this matter so we can all move on with our lives.

This is a really promising start, but we're still a long way from our goal! Please, if you haven't yet, take a moment to share this with your networks.